This invention relates generally to motor vehicle safety devices and in particular to inflatable airbags.
For many years the automotive industry has tried various products and methods to reduce injury to passengers and vehicles in collisions. Such products and methods have included energy absorbing bumpers, seat belts and inflatable airbags. Typically, inflatable airbags have been located in the steering column and dashboard. More recently, side impact airbags have been located in the frame surrounding the door or on the seat belt itself. The aforementioned interior-disposed airbags are directed primarily to preventing injury to the occupants of the vehicle in a collision, but do nothing to mitigate injury to the occupants of other vehicles involved in the collision, or to pedestrians who are struck by the vehicle.
External airbags have been proposed that deploy between the front bumper of the impacting vehicle and the vehicle being struck in order to reduce the severity of the impact and thereby reduce the severity of the vehicle damage and occupant injury. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,265 to Baber discloses an airbag concealed inside the rear bumper of a truck that is inflated and extends rearwardly from the bumper to reduce the effects of the impact. The bumper has a breakaway panel on the outer surface of the bumper that is removed by the inflation of the airbag. U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,214 to Kim discloses an air inflatable bumper having a bladder that inflates in response to an impact and extends outwardly from the bumper frame. U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,336 to Balgobin discloses a bumper airbag having an internal shock absorber. The airbag is deployed in a generally spherical shape forward of the bumper. U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,556 to Jacobs teaches an airbag mounted to the rear of a truck that deploys in response to the bending of the under-ride guard mounted at the rear or side of the truck. U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,785 to Ran, et al. discloses a proactive vehicle safety system consisting of plural airbags deployable around the perimeter of a vehicle that deploy in response to an impending impact.
The increased popularity of sport utility vehicles (SUVs), passenger trucks and other motor vehicles that stand higher than a standard automobile, has created new problems in the field of vehicle collision safety. Specifically, when one of these higher than standard vehicles broadsides a standard automobile, because of the difference in height between the two vehicles, the bumper of the higher vehicle will contact the standard automobile above the reinforced area of the door. In such cases it is possible for the upper body and head of the occupant of the struck vehicle to impact the grille or hood of the higher vehicle. Similarly, when a high profile vehicle strikes a pedestrian, in many cases the impact of the pedestrian's head against the grille and hood area causes more severe injuries than the initial impact between the bumper and the lower extremities of the pedestrian.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,679 to Miyasaka, et al. discloses an airbag system that deploys a pair of airbags from beneath the cowl area of a standard automobile to cover the A-pillars of the vehicle in response to a collision. The airbags prevent a pedestrian that has been struck by a vehicle from sliding up the hood and being injured by impacting the vehicle A-pillar. Although Miyasaka recognizes the importance of deploying external airbags to mitigate injuries to struck pedestrians, the airbag system disclosed by Miyasaka is suitable only for automobiles with sharply sloped hoods. High profile vehicles and vehicles with more rectangular outlines such as SUVs would not benefit significantly from airbags deployed over the A-pillars because a pedestrian struck by such a vehicle is generally injured by impact with the grille and leading edge of the hood not by impact with the vehicle A-pillars. Accordingly, what is needed is an airbag that deploys in the region above the bumper and forward of the grille to mitigate injuries to persons struck by such vehicles.